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Daily Bible Study

Daily Bible Study March 18, 2002

Scripture and Commentary

Online Bible courtesy of Gospelcom.net
See Romans
1 in the New King James Version
See Romans
1 in the New American Standard Bible

Continuing commentary on Romans Chapter 1

Another of the telling aspects of Paul's understanding
of Salvation is in his concern for the faith of the believers in Rome.
They were not even his converts, yet we see that he prays for them regularily.

Romans 1 (NASB)
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole
world.
9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the
preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly
I make mention of you,
10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now
at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.
11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some
spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you
while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that
often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far)
so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the
rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and
to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel
to you also who are in Rome.

Before we can even appreciate Paul, we
need to understand that he had a Pastor's heart. He did not preach
because he was paid well, or because he had some sort of status.
He did it because of the heart of compassion that Christ had given him.

What is Salvation?

Romans 1 (NASB)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for
it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith; as it is written,
"BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

(Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 here and in Gal 3:11, as does the writer of
Hebrews in Hebrews 10:38)

Paul makes it clear that salvation is a
life of faith, and that faith is in the power of God, which is the good
news. This good news is not just any good news, but it is news that
comes bearing power. Hallelujah!

How Many Roads are there to walk down

Yesterday we mentioned that Paul makes a solid
distinction between the believers and the unbelievers, which is a theme
that continues through Romans.

The believer lives by faith

The unbeliever lives in the lusts of his or
her heart.

Verses 18 through 32 make some plain
points about this. The difference between a saved person and an unbeliever
is whether they desire to continue in their sin. Many read these
verses and think, "I'm guilty of this or that sin; does this mean that
I hate God? I do this, but I don't want to!" The book of Romans is devoted
in part to just that question.

What Paul is doing here at the beginning
is contrasting the believer and the unbeliever. And Paul will present
the way out in the chapters to come.

Again, God's purpose is to bring all believers
to a life of faith. Are you living a life or faith? Are you seeking
to please God?

Introduction to Romans Study, and summary of today's study.

Romans is a primer on the relationship
of the Believer to The Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we are continuing our study of the
Book of Romans.

About the Controversy between the Calvinist
and the Arminian posiions, let me state this:

The chief concerns that are addressed in
that debate:

Can I lose my salvation (that is, if I commit
a sin, will I find I am no longer saved)?

If I keep on sinning, will I be saved?

Is there victory over sin?

If I neglect my relationship with the Lord
Jesus, what happens to my salvation?

Once I am saved, do I have license to keep
on sinning?

The further issues are:

Once I am saved, how do I keep from sinning?

Is it something I do, and thus it becomes
an issue of pride? Or is it a work that God does in our lives?

Can we ever expect to overcome sin? If we
do, how does it happen? How are we set free?

If a person backslides in his faith, and doesn't
come back to vibrant Christian faith, is he saved if he is in that condition
when he dies?

These are all important questions,
and if we are not careful we wind up answering them from our doctrinal
position rather than from a careful study of scripture.

I encourage you to use your resources to
study these issues, and to approach them with an open heart.

It is my desire to be open to as direct
an understanding of the Scriptures as possible.

Note that on different days,
the placement of the commentary on the page will vary. Sometimes,
I will use the left pane and sometimes the right pane.

Summary of Today's Study:

1. Paul had a pastor's heart.2. Salvation is a life of faith.3. There are only two ways to go,
either a life of faith, or a life characterized by living in the lusts
of our flesh (and as we will see later on, in bondage to forces that
oppress and destroy.)

4. Again, we did not break down the
catalog of sins in verses 26-32. But I would encourage you to read
it through. If you feel that, even though you are a Christian, you
still fall into this, then you have some good news coming as we study Romans.

I would encourage you to do something that
helped me greatly. Pick a version of the scriptures and start to
type it out or to write it longhand, whichever you feel more inclined to
do. As you do so, you will learn the scriptures at the tip of your
fingers!

Scripture is quoted
today from the New American Standard Bible. We work with various
versions, because we believe that being well studied in the scripture will
enable us to rightly divide the word of truth. We encourage you to do likewise,
because of the insights we have gotten. Familiarize yourself with one,
and then go on to use others.

This commentary
is copyright Rick
Galbraith, March 17, 2002. It is
my "daily devotions," my own study of the Scriptures, and you are invited
to share it with me.